The female police officer shot by a suspect who subsequently barricaded himself in a Laval, Que. apartment building has died.

Laval municipal police confirmed late Wednesday afternoon that 25-year-old Const. Valerie Gignac, a four-year veteran of the service, is dead.

Const. Gignas and her partner were attending a call at a third-floor residence in the apartment building around 11:15 a.m. ET Wednesday morning. When she announced her presence, before anybody responded, she was shot through the still-closed door.

With the suspect still inside the apartment, Gignac was quickly rushed to a Montreal hospital. But Police Chief Jean Gariepy said she died a short while later, "by a very severe wound in her belly."

"It is with profound regret that I have to announce the death of a police officer," he told reporters, announcing that the 25-year-old, four-year veteran of the police service.

At the time, heavily-armed tactical police, as well as a tank-like armoured personnel carrier were surrounding the apartment block in the suburb north of Montreal.

The POS that shot her was known to police, had threatened them before, was prohibited in 1999 from owning or possesing firearms for 10 years. But some moronic judge allowed him to have a rifle during hunting season as long as he was supervised by someone.According to the media..he shot her with a .338 caliber rifle.

The man accused of killing a Montreal cop was granted permission to have a gun for the hunting season -- despite being banned from using firearms since 1999.

The ban was a court-imposed measure resulting from repeated charges of harassment and death threats to police and court workers.

The day after Const. Valerie Gignac was fatally shot in the line of duty, the president of Quebec's police brotherhood slammed the justice system for doing an inadequate job of enforcing its own rules.

"It's difficult for me to express my feelings concerning that,'' fraternity president Gilles Lemieux told reporters at a press conference Thursday. "We have a good system but we made some mistakes.''

Lemieux also said Const. Gignac, who was killed Wednesday while attending a noise complaint, knew the risks she was facing and did everything by the book in the moments leading up to her death.

But Laval Police Chief Jean-Pierre Gariepy said the officer stood little chance against a bullet fired from high-powered rifle strong enough to use on safari.

"It's used in the jungle to hunt elephants," he told reporters, describing the weapon that fired the fatal shot through an apartment door Wednesday.

Francois Pepin, 40, has been arraigned on a charge of first-degree murder in Gignac's killing. He has also been charged with possession of a firearm and breaking a probation condition that ordered him to abstain from having a gun.

He is being held in custody and will be back in court Feb. 15. He didn't enter a plea and his lawyer didn't seek bail.

Gignac, 25, was fatally hit in the abdomen -- below her protective vest -- when at least one shot was fired through the door of an apartment in suburban Laval, north of Montreal.

A police official who did not want to be identified said two shots were fired at Gignac, with one striking her. A witness said she heard only one shot.

Even if the bullet had struck her protective vest, Lemieux told reporters that the .338-calibre shot would have been powerful enough to pierce it.

Gignac was rushed to hospital, where TV footage showed staff administering cardio pulmonary resuscitation as she was wheeled inside.

She later died.

Police, meanwhile, responded by flooding the neighbourhood with cruisers and evacuating the apartment complex. Three schools in the area were also locked down to keep students safe.

Pepin finally surrendered after a seven-hour standoff during which heavily armed tactical teams swarmed the neighbourhood.

"The man left his apartment and gave himself over to police in a calm and peaceful manner and suffering from no injuries," police spokesman François Doré said late Wednesday.

Pepin 'known' to police

CTV's Jed Kahane said Pepin was known to police and had a history of erratic behaviour.

Police were also aware of Pepin's alleged penchant for female officers. The two officers who answered the call Wednesday knew the suspect, officials said, because they had arrested him a week before on a complaint made by another female police officer.

Pepin was fined $500 on Monday for harassment.

"I'm told he had fantasies about women police officers," Constable Guy Lajeunesse told The Globe and Mail. "He'd go by the police station and say `I love women police officers. I find them beautiful.' It was known."

A native of Quebec City, Gignac had served with Laval police for four years. Her boyfriend, who works with the canine unit, is also on the force.

Gariepy said his officers were in shock.

"Right now, there's really a deep sense of grief," Gariepy told reporters as he announced Gignac's death on Wednesday.

"It's like as if it was your daughter. She was 25, and at the age I am now, I see them all as my children. It's stupid to say, but that's how I see them."

The first Laval police officer to be killed in the line of duty, Gignac is the eighth Canadian cop to be killed in the line of duty during 2005.